Costa Rica – (CRS2) – July 10th – July 24th

Welcome Global Works travelers, parents and friends. We are excited to share with you trip updates from around the world. As our main office receives updates from the trips we will update the page as we receive news from the field.

Update #1:
July 10th 2010 –
Hola from Costa Rica! Our first day was mostly filled with travel. After arriving in the San Jose Airport and pushing through a boisterous crowd we met with the entire group and boarded the buses. Upon arriving at what looked like a house, we dined on local snacks such as Yipy, Chicky, peach juice, Zafari and more. After calling our parents to tell them we made it safe and sound, the group proceeded to break the ice with some introductions and name games. After meeting our group, the leaders briefed us on our first full day in San Jose. Excited and exhausted from a long day of travel, we hit the hay.

July 11th 2010
Our second day started off with some delicious fresh fruit, gallo pinto (a local dish of rice and beans), toast and cereal. After a group orientation and ice breakers (we have videos of ‘em that we’ll post soon!) we had some down time before we went into downtown San Jose for lunch. After eating and watching the World Cup Final, we got in groups of three and explored the plaza and asked friendly Ticos some questions to warm up our Spanish during our scavenger hunt. The we returned to our hotel, La Dehesa, where we sat in the rain and fed the cows in the field behind the hotel. In the evening, we had some fun learning salsa, merengue and chacha (again…see the video!). After working up a sweat and appetite dancing, we cooled down with a short walk in the rain to have a típico dinner at Super Snacks. When we returned home, we all packed for a big rafting day ahead. We’re so excited for our upcoming adventures on the river and then in our host community.

Video #1:

Video#2:

Update #2:
July 12th, 2010:
Day three started very early. The bus for the rafting trip left at 6 am. During the first leg of the bus ride, the tour guide, Albert, explained the basics of rafting and told stories from his childhood. We stopped for breakfast at the main center of the rafting company. There was much to eat including fruit, yogurt, granola and, of course, gallo pinto. After we finished eating we boarded the bus and continued to the rafting site. We hiked down the very slippery hill and began to get ready for the water. The proper rafting gear included a helmet, life vest, a water bottle and a paddle. We rafted for 45 minutes in Class II and III rapids. We stopped at a waterfall and went swimming (see picture). The water was cool, but it was relaxing after the intensive rafting. Once we were done swimming we rafted to the campsite and enjoyed a burrito lunch prepared by our raft guides. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed while listening to several people play the guitar (see picture). We wrapped up the evening taking about the homestay adventures that we would head to next day.

July 13th 2010:
Today we awoke in tents. The sun shined through the tent and warmed our faces. We were leaving for our second and final day of rafting soon, so we began to gather our things. The campsite was incredibly beautiful. The surroundings were very green and most of the fixtures were made of bamboo. The sound of clanging dishes and the wonderful scent wafting from the kitchen area signaled that breakfast was ready. After consuming a delicious meal of eggs, pancakes, toast, sausage and the most delicious pineapple we have ever tasted, we hit the water (see picture). While the water was shockingly chilly at first, we were all ready for action. We tackled some class II and IV rapids, stopping only to consume another incredible, fresh meal. Today was longer and more strenuous than yesterday (I am sore as I write this), but we all had a blast. When we finished rafting, we arrived back at the main rafting center. We took some quick showers, changed into dry clothes, and boarded the bus to our homestay community. After an unexpectedly long bus ride, we pulled into the town. It was dark, but many people gathered to greet us. After being introduced to our host families, we all went home to wonderful meals in our respective homes and got to know our new families. While it was a bit awkward, our families were very kind and understanding. Tomorrow, we will go to the worksite. We are all excited to see what this work brings.

July 14th 2010:
The morning after our surprisingly smooth arrival into our homestay community, we awoke to a loquacious rooster at the crack of dawn. Upon looking out of the window to find the source of the racket we saw the local Ticos (a friendly name for Costa Ricans) making the trek uphill in various modes of transportation; some walked, some biked, some galloped up the hill on horses. As we peered out the window a small peculiar figure caught our eyes. After waiting an hour for the rest of our family to get up, we meandered outside, toothbrushes in hand and checked out the cryptic object in the grass. Our hermana Yoxela showed no fear in introducing us to the dark figure that was a MASSIVE HORNBEETLE! She used a banana leaf to extend his horn. He had a hard time getting it off. She proceeded to pluck pipas (something similar to a coconut) for the three of us and had her brother-in-law open them with a machete for us. There were freaking good. We had tortillas and huevos con salsa especial. Our brother-in-law walked us across the bridge to our worksite. We waited for everyone else to arrive and then got a tour of the community. We saw previous Global Works projects like the foundation for the church and a common meeting place. The we began our labor. At first some of us cleared the “human earthquake” that the men had created by tearing down an old house to make some space for our project. Others worked on making plans for our English lessons tomorrow. Then, we got down and dirty at the worksite. We dug holes for a new fence, picked up more scrap metal and moved dirt to even out the land for a new classroom (our project, see picture). We were witches and wizards brewing our concrete. We paused for arroz, pasta, ensalada and some juice drink that tasted like bubble gum. After lunch we got back to work. After leaving the salon or the community center, our work became more tedious. After a few hours some of us split up to change and bring our families back to the community center for a pick-up game of soccer (see picture). The teams were not evenly matched but it was fun anyway. Eventually everyone got really pooped out and started to disperse. We all left to go back home and clean up for a family dinner. After the game of toss with lacrosse sticks when we got home, and our bodies were cooled down enough to take a shower. It felt amazing. Dinner was arroz con frijoles y plantanos and some hand-made cheese from across the way. After playing some more hand games and saying goodbye to our hermana who was leaving early the next day for the beach, we settled down to write this and now it is time to sign off, so bye. It was a good day. ¡Hasta mañana! ¡Pura Vida!

Update #3:
July 15th: We ate with our host families this morning and then arrived to the worksite around 8am. It was however, raining so we stayed in the salon (where the community meets). After discussing upcoming activities for the week, such as Noche de Tortillas and a community ‘Field Day’ we broke off into groups to prepare for our English lessons. When everyone was sufficiently ready, we practiced each activity with each other as our audience. We played Duck Duck Goose, Pictionary, and sang Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. All of our great activities were approved and ready and outside it continued to pour so we relaxed with a bunch of card games. Afterwards, we had an early lunch of rice, beans, egg salad, and as well as dug dirt and filled wheelbarrows so we could level out the land that will be the new classroom. After work, we relaxed and set up for our English lessons. The Ticos were hesitant to come and very shy about participating. The whole experience was a bit awkward but fun, as everyone lead their lessons with great enthusiasm and the students seemed to enjoy themselves. At the end of the day we headed home for dinner and rested for our day tomorrow!

July 16th: We awoke to a knock on the door, our daily alarm, the signal that we were about to embark on another adventure to this close-knit community. Arriving at the salon, following our hilly hike into town, we were invited to share some awkward tales of homestay life. We then moved out the work, which everyone worked at, very hard! We took a break at noon for lunch, which, today, included a delicious dessert of rice pudding. From then on, we worked until 4, pausing then to take note of the difference we had made in this small space we have taken hold of. Tonight was a special night (El Noche de Tortillas). Almost everyone’s family came to the salon, bringing tortilla toppings and the ingredients for us to create tortillas of our very own. We rolled, patted, fried, and consumed creations of our very own. A few roommate pairs walked then walked to the tiny tienda following our meal, where we purchased some ice cream. We can only wonder what tomorrow has in store!

July 17: We woke up and arrived at the worksite at our regular time, each one of us sharing our own awkward story from our previous night with our homestay family. We were all excited because today was special for two reasons: because today was a half day of work and because today was “Dia de Actividades”, or Activity Day. After cleaning up the worksite we went to the salon to eat and get ready for our activities. Our activities started with a mejenga (a pickup game of soccer) and then we played a game of Capture the Flag, which most of the Ticos had no idea of how to play. The rain quickly ruined this game, but it didn’t stop us from continuing to play soccer. Soon the community was re-playing soccer which eventually turned into an all around mud fight between the Ticos and the students. Once everyone had mud all over their bodies we began to play with the water balloons, which eventually became a water balloon fight. After the balloons were all popped, we continued with the mud fight until it was time to go home and wash up and rest for tomorrow’s adventure.

July 18th: Today was a day we will never forget. Like usual, our what seems to be broken rooster woke us up at a much sooner time than expected. The delicious scent of Costa Rican breakfast dragged us to the table. Eggs, cheese, fried bananas, gallo pinto (like always), milked that was milked from our neighbors, and Tropical Fruit was our breakfast for the day. After eating, we rode the bus for about an hour awaiting what was going to be a fun day. We were going zip-lining! After a long wait to get to the beginning of the adventure, it began and it was totally worth it! The beautiful view of deep jungle had us all in awe. We were very excited to see the monkeys, and all very surprised to see a sloth. Ending our tour, we went to a Costa Rican restaurant and our choice of food. We then got back on the bus and all went back to our homestays to spend one of last nights with our families.

July 19th: This morning we awoke to the smell of gallo pinto cooking on the stove and our one year old “brother” hitting the door. We ate a delicious Costa Rican breakfast with our abuela. Eggs, ham, bread, and of course, gallo pinto! After eating breakfast we tied up our sneakers, getting ready for our final day of work ‘en la escuela’. On our way we were surprised to see the school bus picking up kids right around the corner from our homestay. We decided to catch a ride and hop on. Shortly after, we arrived at school. As everyone began to arrive we headed toward the shed to collect shovels, hoes, and wheelbarrows. We enthusiastically started to work. By this time our floor had gradually made it up to height we wanted to reach to begin cementing the floor. We kept working until noon, when we got our lunch break. Tuna stew and pico de gallo filled our plates. After lunch we began to work again for our last hour of work here. As everyone stepped it up, we got a lot done in that hour. We had three hours to go home and shower and prepare for the Cena de Despidida (goodbye dinner). As we arrived, hot dogs were already boiling and we began to make Ceasar salad and set up the Ice Cream Sunday Table. The families arrive and the festivities began. We all ate and read our farewell cards. After we danced salsa for hours and then had to say our goodbyes!

July 20th: This morning was one of the sadder mornings of our trip. We all woke up, packed the rest of our belongings, ate our last homestay breakfast, and said our final goodbyes to each of our families. Before we left for the beach we didn’t forget to take pictures with our new friends of Costa Rica. Then we were off to the beach!!! Our seven hour bus ride wasn’t too bad at all! We stopped at an awesome super market and delicious buffet lunch. After lunch we continued on our bus ride to the beach. When we arrived, we settled in our bedrooms and got ready for dinner. At dinner we had the choice of eating spaghetti, salad, rice and beans, meat. After dinner we talked about our homestay experience and bonded with a lot of fun-filled laughter!

Update #4:
July 21st:
We awoke this morning and put on our bathing suits and went to breakfast to fill up before our beach excursion. We all ate up our pancakes, French toast, fresh fruit, and orange juice, and then we headed for the beach. We walked about a mile before being sprinkled by rain until we reached the surf school. We put on our bright yellow rash guards and learned the basics of surfing. After practicing a few times, we jumped into the waves with our long boards. Trying not to get pulled out put the current, lose our balance, or fall head first into the shallow parts on the water, most of us succeeded to get up on the board more than once. After a few hours in the sun, we showered off and walked back to the shady path, rather than on the beach. Once we arrived we ate lunch and had some time to relax. Some of us laid in the hammocks, while others swam in the turtle shaped pool. After, we walked down the street and watched a presentation on the endangered leatherback turtles. We learned how to keep them safe by maintaining a safe environment, how many eggs they lay, and the local groups in Costa Rica that work to keep them alive. After dinner we had a meringue dance lesson. We got partners and performed the choreography in front of the group and got judged on a scale of one through ten. Fun day!

July 22nd
Today we continued our surf lessons. It was extremely sunny, which was really nice. But, before we hit the beach we had a delicious breakfast of gallo pinto with eggs, pancakes, French toast, etc. Then we walked about a mile to where we got out our rash guards and surfboard, and then we hit the waves. Today was much more exciting because the waves were much larger. We could all see a major improvement in our surfing skills as well. While some people surfed the rest of us laid on the beach and played in the water. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone get up on the surfboard much more often than yesterday, but there were still the few who had some really nice wipeouts. After a long day at the beach we came back to the hotel for some relaxing free time. Everyone did a different activity, which included lying in hammocks, relaxing by the pool, and taking a swim. After we had dinner we watched an incredible slideshow of pictures of everyone surfing. All in all, it was a fun, relaxing day in Playa Grande.

July 23rd
Today we awoke from our last night of sleep at Hotel Las Tortugas. After eating breakfast and sleeping in a half hour later than usual, we went back to our rooms and finished packing for the long ride back to the city. We left the beachside hotel around 10am and braced ourselves for the ride to come. Our first stop was for lunch at a buffet style restaurant called Fiesta del Sabor where we enjoyed an episode of Friends with Spanish subtitles (and our food of course). After we finished our meals, we hoped back on the bus until our second stop – the grocery store. There we stalked up on food for our flights back home. After than stop, we stopped at a souvenir shop. The shop had cute wooden items, shirts, and other Costa Rican accessories. When we left the store, we dodged the major weekend traffic and set off on our final leg of our journey. At about 6 p.m. we arrived at the Costa Rican Global Works headquarters, where we settled into our rooms before heading upstairs to hang out. At about 7, our fabulous cook out style dinner (there wasn’t any rice and beans!) was ready and we enjoyed our chicken, meat, chips, salad, veggie kabobs, and soda before watching traditional Costa Rican dancing. The dancers wore flowing skirts and ruffled shirts. Once the dancers finished their routines, we presented awards to each other in front of the group. We found our flight situations and said early goodbyes and still can’t believe that we were leaving already!